|
on Labour Economics |
| By: | Clark, Andrew E. (PSE); Colombier, Nathalie (University of Rennes); Masclet, David (University of Rennes) |
| Abstract: | Previous empirical work has shown that the self-employed are generally more satisfied than salaried workers. This paper contributes to the existing literature in two ways. First, using French data from the ECHP and British data from the BHPS, we investigate the domains over which this differential operates. We show that, after controlling for occupation, self-employed workers are generally more satisfied with working conditions and pay, but less satisfied than employees with respect to job security. We then consider the differences between the first- and second-generation self-employed. The first-generation self-employed (those whose parents were not self-employed) are more satisfied overall than are the second-generation self-employed. We argue that this finding is consistent with the self-employed partly comparing their labor market outcomes with those of their parents, as well as parental transfers which loosen the self-employment participation constraint. This result is found in both pooled and panel analysis. |
| Keywords: | satisfaction, self-employment, parents, intergenerational comparisons |
| JEL: | J20 J21 J23 J24 |
| Date: | 2008–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp3476&r=lab |
| By: | Jeffrey Wenger; Christian E. Weller |
| Abstract: | The relationship between earnings, savings and retirement is well-known; however the linkage between labor market outcomes and financial market performance is generally unacknowledged. This Working Paper examines the implications of the link between labor markets and financial markets for workers who save money in individual retirement accounts. Specifically, differences in labor market outcomes across groups may imply differences in the timing of investments, which may reduce savings over time for these groups compared to their counterparts. Using monthly data from the Current Population Survey (1979-2002) we generate hypothetical investment portfolios using stock and bond indices. We exploit differences across demographic groups in unemployment and wage growth, and use these differences to examine each group’s investment outcomes. We then disaggregate the total effects into short-term and long-term components. We find some evidence of short-term market timing effects on investment, but we find much larger long-term effects for some groups. Our findings suggest that, for many people, the retirement savings losses associated with the timing of markets are similar to the costs of annuitizing savings upon retirement. The differences are especially pronounced by education and sex. |
| Keywords: | Individual accounts, retirement savings, earnings volatility |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:uma:periwp:wp162&r=lab |
| By: | Costa Dias, Monica (Institute for Fiscal Studies); Ichimura, Hidehiko (University of Tokyo); van den Berg, Gerard J. (Department of Economics, University Amsterdam) |
| Abstract: | The matching method for treatment evaluation does not balance selective unobserved differences between treated and non-treated. We derive a simple correction term if there is an instrument that shifts the treatment probability to zero in specific cases. Policies with eligibility restrictions, where treatment is impossible if some variable exceeds a certain value, provide a natural application. In an empirical analysis, we first examine the performance of matching versus regression-discontinuity estimation in the sharp age-discontinuity design of the NDYP job search assistance program for young unemployed in the UK. Next, we exploit the age eligibility restriction in the Swedish Youth Practice subsidized work program for young unemployed, where compliance is imperfect among the young. Adjusting the matching estimator for selectivity changes the results towards inefectiveness of subsidized work in moving individuals into employment. |
| Keywords: | Propensity score: policy evaluation; treatment effect; regression discontinuity; selection; job search assistance; subsidized work; youth unemployment |
| JEL: | C14 C25 J64 |
| Date: | 2008–04–21 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:ifauwp:2008_006&r=lab |
| By: | Dalgaard, Carl-Johan; Strulik, Holger |
| Abstract: | Drawing on recent research on allometric scaling and energy consumption, the present paper develops a nutrition-based efficiency wage model from first principles. The biologically micro-founded model allows us to address empirical criticism of the original nutrition-based efficiency wage model. By extending the model with respect to heterogeneity in worker body size and a physiologically founded impact of body size on productivity, we demonstrate that the nutrition-based efficiency wage model is compatible with the empirical regularity that taller workers simultaneously earn higher wages and are less likely to be unemployed in less developed economies. The theory also provides an answer to the question of why such regularity may disappear in the process of development. |
| Keywords: | Efficiency Wages, Nutrition, Metabolism, Allometric Scaling, Body Size |
| JEL: | O11 O15 J21 J31 |
| Date: | 2008–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:han:dpaper:dp-396&r=lab |
| By: | Schneider, Julia (Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany]) |
| Abstract: | "In 2005, benefit sanctions in Germany were tightened with the introduction of the new means-tested unemployment benefit II (UB II), codified in Social Code (SC) II. This study analyzes the effect of benefit sanctions on the reservation wage of sanctioned unemployment benefit II recipients. The behavioral effect of a benefit sanction is an empirically open question. According to job search theory, benefit sanctions directly reduce reservation wages. To explore this hypothesis, propensity score matching is adopted. The dataset used is a unique survey of UB II recipients in the first year of SC II. For the identification of the effect, the study relies on the rich individual data and the rather unsystematic sanctioning process in the starting months after the introduction of the SC II. The timing of the sanction is explicitly considered by estimating the effects for the first four quarters of UB II receipt in 2005. The main result is that there was no significant effect of sanctions on the reservation wages of sanctioned unemployment benefit II recipients. A side result is that sanctioned UB II recipients were not more likely to be employed at the time of their interview either. Both results are robust to various matching estimators, estimation specifications and to the timing of the UB II sanction." (author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en)) |
| JEL: | J64 J68 C13 |
| Date: | 2008–04–23 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iab:iabdpa:200819&r=lab |
| By: | Arntz, Melanie; Lo, Simon M. S.; Wilke, Ralf A. |
| Abstract: | "In this paper we derive nonparametric bounds for the cumulative incidence curve within a competing risks model with partly identified interval data. As an advantage over earlier attempts our approach also gives valid results in case of dependent competing risks. We apply our framework to empirically evaluate the effect of unemployment benefits on observed migration of unemployed workers in Germany. Our findings weakly indicate that reducing the entitlement length for unemployment benefits increases migration among high-skilled individuals." (author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en)) |
| Keywords: | Arbeitslosenunterstützung, Leistungsanspruch - Dauer, Binnenwanderung, regionale Mobilität, Wanderungsmotivation, Mobilitätsbereitschaft, Arbeitslose, Hochqualifizierte, IAB-Beschäftigtenstichprobe |
| JEL: | C41 C14 J61 |
| Date: | 2007–08–13 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iab:iabfme:200704_en&r=lab |
| By: | Waldkirch, Andreas; Ofosu, Andra |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the effect of foreign presence on the productivity of manufacturing industries in Ghana, using firm level panel data. We examine both labor and total factor productivity (TFP), which we compute using the Levinsohn and Petrin (2003) methodology. We control for a number of observed factors as well as unobserved heterogeneity in several dimensions. We find robust evidence that the presence of foreign firms in a sector has a negative effect on domestically owned, but a positive effect on most foreign owned firms. Unlike in recent work on China, it does not appear that the negative level effect is compensated for by a positive growth effect, at least not in any reasonable time period. This finding underscores that care must be exercised in extrapolating results from one country to others. We find no evidence of any wage effects. |
| Keywords: | Foreign Direct Investment; Productivity; Spillovers; Firm Level Data; Africa; Ghana |
| JEL: | O55 O24 F23 |
| Date: | 2008–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:8577&r=lab |
| By: | Isacsson, Gunnar (VTI); Karlström, Anders (KTH); Swärdh, Jan-Erik (VTI) |
| Abstract: | This paper compares estimates of the value of commuting time, working time and household working time from empirical models of subjective assessments of life satisfaction and job satisfaction, respectively, to the corresponding estimates obtained from an empirical search model of the labour market. The results indicate that all three variables produce rather high estimates of the value of commuting time. The results regarding the value of working time differ more between the different outcome variables and it is only significantly different from zero in the model of life satisfaction. Perhaps less surprisingly, the estimate of the value of household working time is also only significantly different from zero in the model of life satisfaction in contrast to the models of job satisfaction and job durations where it is insignificantly different from zero. This paper compares estimates of the value of commuting time, working time and household working time from empirical models of subjective assessments of life satisfaction and job satisfaction, respectively, to the corresponding estimates obtained from an empirical search model of the labour market. The results indicate that all three variables produce rather high estimates of the value of commuting time. The results regarding the value of working time differ more between the different outcome variables and it is only significantly different from zero in the model of life satisfaction. Perhaps less surprisingly, the estimate of the value of household working time is also only significantly different from zero in the model of life satisfaction in contrast to the models of job satisfaction and job durations where it is insignificantly different from zero. |
| Keywords: | Life satisfaction; job satisfaction; job search; value of time |
| JEL: | C25 C41 J62 R41 |
| Date: | 2008–04–21 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:vtiwps:2008_002&r=lab |
| By: | Engelbert Stockhammer |
| Abstract: | <span>Wage shares have fallen substantially in Europe since the early 1980s. To some extent this is due to a macroeconomic policy package that encourages wage flexibility and wage competition. A system of wage coordination in the Euro area would facility a return to a productivity-oriented wage policy by reducing wage competition. In a recent study on the demand effects of changes in functional income distribution Stockhammer, Onaran und Ederer (2007) find that the Euro area is in a wage-led demand regime. According to their results a reduction of the wage share by 1%-point leads to a reduction of demand by around 0.2%-points of GDP. This finding has far reaching implications for economic policy. A stable wage share would help stabilize demand. The paper aims, first, at clarifying some conceptual issues in the design of a European system of productivity-oriented wage coordination and, second, it discusses the economic policy implications of wage coordination. The present policy package assigns wages the role of a shock absorber. However, as wage reductions do have negative demand effects in a wage-led demand regime, this policy has a deflationary bias. A system of wage coordination will thus have to be complemented by a more active nation fiscal policies and more fiscal redistribution within the EU. If so a regime of productivity oriented wage coordination will help to stabilize demand and it is consistent with price stability. </span><p class="MsoNormal"><span> </span></p> |
| Keywords: | macroeconomics, economic policy, policy mix, wage coordination, European Union |
| JEL: | E20 E24 E50 E60 J30 J50 |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:uma:periwp:wp160&r=lab |
| By: | Amoako-Tuffour, Joe; Martınez-Espineira, Roberto |
| Abstract: | Using count data models that account for zero-truncation, overdispersion, and endogenous stratification, this paper estimates the value of access to recreational parks. The focus is on the valuation of the opportunity cost of travel time within the cost of the trip and its effects on estimated consumer surplus. The fraction of hourly earnings that corresponds to the opportunity cost of travel time is endogenously estimated as a function of visitor characteristics, rather than fixed exogenously. We find that the relevant opportunity cost of time for most visitors represents a smaller fraction of their wage rate than commonly assumed previously. |
| Keywords: | value of time; endogenous stratification; on-site sampling; overdispersion; recreation demand; travel cost method |
| JEL: | Q00 Q51 |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:8573&r=lab |
| By: | Andrew Leigh; Xiaodong Gong |
| Abstract: | Improving cognitive skills of young children has been suggested as a possible strategy for equalising opportunities across racial groups. Using data on 4-5 year olds in the Longitudinal Survey of Australian Children, we focus on two cognitive tests: the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT) and the ‘Who Am I?’ test (WAI). We estimate the test score gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous children to be about 0.3 to 0.4 standard deviations, suggesting that the typical Indigenous 5 year-old has a similar test score to the typical non-Indigenous 4 year-old. Between one-third and two-thirds of the Indigenous/non-Indigenous test score gap appears to be due to socio-economic differences, such as income and parental education. We review the literature on test score differences in Australia, and find that our estimated gaps are lower than most of those found in the literature. This implies that the test score gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous children may widen over the lifecycle, a finding that has implications for policies aimed at improving educational opportunities for Indigenous children. |
| Keywords: | cognitive ability, racial differentials, early childhood |
| JEL: | I20 J15 |
| Date: | 2008–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:auu:dpaper:578&r=lab |
| By: | Peter Haan; Victoria Prowse; Arne Uhlendorff |
| Abstract: | In this paper we develop a dynamic structural life-cycle model of labor supply behavior which fully accounts for the effects of income tax and transfers on labor supply incentives. Additionally, the model recognizes the demand side driven rationing risk that might prevent individuals from realizing their optimal labor supply state, resulting in involuntary unemployment. We use this framework to study the employment effects of transforming a traditonal welfare state, as is currently in place in Germany, towards a more Anglo-American system in which a large proportion of transfers are paid to the working poor. |
| Keywords: | Life-Cycle Labor Supply, Involuntary Unemployment, In-Work Credits |
| JEL: | C23 C25 J22 J64 |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oxf:wpaper:391&r=lab |
| By: | Mendez, Ildefonso |
| Abstract: | Leaving the nest in Southern Europe, and to a lesser extend in other countries, is a decision taken simultaneously by two young adults who form a new household. However, nothing is known about the e¤ect of partnership status on childrens eman- cipation since conventional datasets do not collect this information. To ll this gap we have collected a unique dataset of 1.600 individuals that is representative of the population of graduates at the University of Murcia aged 25 to 29 years at the time of the rst interview in 2004. Non-emancipated respondents were reinterviewed 12 and 24 months following the initial interview and we elicited their subjective beliefs about the one-year-ahead probability of several personal and job-related outcomes. Our empirical results indicate that having a partner is as relevant as being em- ployed for men to emancipate. For women, the marginal e¤ect of having a partner is three times larger than that of working. Expectations measures reveal informa- tion about the realization of the reference outcome not otherwise available from objective variables. Moreover, partnered respondents expectations about living with their partner and about their employed partners losing their job or becom- ing unemployed are strong predictors of future emancipation even conditional upon numerous observable characteristics. |
| Keywords: | youth; emancipation; partner; expectations |
| JEL: | J13 D84 J12 |
| Date: | 2008–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:8655&r=lab |
| By: | Schönberg, Uta |
| Abstract: | "The data set that researchers have used most often to study career interruptions due to childbirth in the German context is the German Socioeconomic Panel. An alternative data source is the much larger IAB Employment Sample (IABS). Although this data set does not include direct information on childbirth, mothers on maternity leave can potentially be identified. There are, however, two problems. First, the leave variable in the IABS does not distinguish between maternity leave and other leave taking, such as sick leave. Second, the child's birth month has to be inferred from the month the mother goes on maternity leave, which is likely to lead to measurement error in the time the mother spends at home after childbirth. This paper investigates both problems, using an extended version of the IABS that supplements the social security records with direct information on childbirth from the German Pension Register. I find that for West German citizens, about 90% of leave spells are due to maternity leave. The child's birth month is correctly estimated for about 70%, and over- or underestimated by one month for about 25% of mothers. I conclude that the IABS 75-01 (as well as the latest weakly anonymous version at the FDZ) provides a valuable alternative data source to the GSOEP to study career interruptions due to childbirth, as long as the focus is on women who are attached to the labour market." (author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en)) |
| Date: | 2008–04–28 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iab:iabfme:200803_en&r=lab |
| By: | Renee B. Adams; Daniel Ferreira |
| Abstract: | Although some argue that tokenism drives the selection of female directors, we show that they have a significant impact on measures of board effectiveness. In a large panel of data on publicly-traded firms from 1996-2003, we find that (1) the likelihood that a female director has attendance problems is 0.29 lower than for a male director, (2) male directors have fewer attendance problems the greater the fraction of female directors on the board, (3) firms with more diverse boards provide their directors with more payperformance incentives, and (4) firms with more diverse boards have more board meetings. We also show that the positive relationship between corporate performance measures and gender diversity documented by previous studies is not robust to attempts to address the endogeneity of diversity. Instead, the average effect of gender diversity on both market valuation and operating performance appears to be negative. This negative effect is driven by companies with greater shareholder rights. In firms with weaker shareholder rights, gender diversity has positive effects. Our results suggest that diverse boards are tougher monitors. Nevertheless, mandating gender quotas in the boardroom may not increase board effectiveness on average, but may reduce it for well-governed firms where additional monitoring is counterproductive. |
| Keywords: | Board of Directors; Board Effectiveness; Gender; Diversity |
| JEL: | G30 G34 J16 |
| Date: | 2007–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hit:hitcei:2008-7&r=lab |
| By: | Barrett, Alan (ESRI, Dublin); McGuinness, Seamus (Economic and Social Research Institute, Dublin); O'Brien, Martin (ESRI, Dublin) |
| Abstract: | As the movement of population from the New Member States (NMS) of the EU to the older members is a relatively new flow, it is important to build up our knowledge of who is moving within Europe and how they are performing in their destinations. In this paper, we analyse the earnings of immigrants in Ireland from the NMS using a new large-scale dataset on employees in Ireland. In so doing, we add to the emerging strand in the literature on immigrant earnings that looks beyond average earnings differentials and considers variations in such differentials across the earnings and skills distributions. We do this partly by using quantile regressions and also by analyzing earnings differentials within educational categories. We find that the average earnings difference between immigrants from the NMS and natives is between 10 percent and 18 percent, depending on the controls used. However, the difference is found to be either non-existent or low for people with low skill levels and for people at the lower end of the earnings distribution. The difference is higher for those at the upper ends of the skills and earnings distributions. This suggests that the transferability of human capital is a crucial determinant of the immigrant-native earnings gap for NMS immigrants in Ireland. |
| Keywords: | new member states, Ireland, immigrant earnings, quantile regression |
| JEL: | J31 J61 |
| Date: | 2008–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp3479&r=lab |
| By: | Kaarel Haav (International University Audentes) |
| Abstract: | TThe paper reviews the main changes in the concept of work satisfaction in organization theory and management practice in the last century. It particularly focuses on developments in Estonia. The author contrasts dualist and integrated concepts of employees and organizations. Most of the empirical studies focus on hedonistic individuals and ignore the social construction of identities (Shamir 1991). In such psychological framework, the dilemmas of attitude-behaviour and satisfaction-performance can not be solved. Although the role of integrated approaches is increasing (especially in theories on organizational culture and identity), the psychological paradigm still dominates, especially in the practice of traditional hierarchical organizations. The paper describes a theoretical and an empirical typology of work satisfaction, based on social (organizational) and psychological (motivational) dimensions. They were developed in Estonia in the 1970s. These typologies reveal the role of satisfaction in regulation of work activities. The author relies on social and psychological dimensions of leadership and designs a new typology of leadership styles. |
| Keywords: | work motivation and activity, typology of satisfaction, psychological and sociological approaches, work and organizational design, employee participation |
| JEL: | M14 |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ttu:wpaper:170&r=lab |
| By: | Tor Eriksson (Aarhus School of Business, Aarhus University, Department of Economics and Center for Corporate Performance); Anders Poulsen (School of Economics, University of East Anglia); Marie-Claire Villeval (GATE, University of Lyon, CNRS, ENS-LSH, Centre Léon Bérard, France) |
| Abstract: | This paper experimentally investigates the impact of different pay and relative performance information policies on employee effort. We explore three information policies: No feedback about relative performance, feedback given halfway through the production period, and continuously updated feedback. The pay schemes are a piece rate payment scheme and a winner-takes-all tournament. We find that, regardless of the pay scheme used, feedback does not improve performance. There are no significant peer effects in the piece-rate pay scheme. In contrast, in the tournament scheme we find some evidence of positive peer effects since the underdogs almost never quit the competition even when lagging significantly behind, and frontrunners do not slack off. Moreover, in both pay schemes information feedback reduces the quality of the low performers’ work. |
| Keywords: | evaluation, feedback, information, laboratory experiments, peer effects, performance pay, piece rate, tournament |
| JEL: | C70 C91 J16 J24 J31 J33 M52 |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gat:wpaper:0812&r=lab |
| By: | Ryo Arawatari (Graduate School of Economics, Osaka University); Tetsuo Ono (Graduate School of Economics, Osaka University) |
| Abstract: | In this study, we ask why countries with similar labor market characteristics experience different occupational mobility levels and redistribution policies. We develop a politico-economic model that integrates occupational mobility affected by individual educational investments with voting on redistribution policies. It is shown that a rigid labor market will tend to produce multiple equilibria: a poor-majority equilibrium with lower mobility and higher redistribution and a rich-majority equilibrium with higher mobility and lower redistribution. However, a flexible labor market will tend to produce a unique, poor-majority equilibrium with high mobility and low redistribution, which supports the POUM (prospect of upward mobility) hypothesis. Deregulation in the labor market enhances mobility but may degrade social welfare. |
| Keywords: | Occupational mobility; Political economy; Stationary Markov perfect equilibrium; Redistribution |
| JEL: | D72 H55 I38 |
| Date: | 2008–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osk:wpaper:0818&r=lab |
| By: | David Dickinson (Department of Economics - Appalachian State University); Marie-Claire Villeval (GATE - Groupe d'analyse et de théorie économique - CNRS : UMR5824 - Université Lumière - Lyon II - Ecole Normale Supérieure Lettres et Sciences Humaines) |
| Abstract: | Agency theory assumes that tighter monitoring by the principal should motivate agents to increase their effort, whereas the “crowding-out” literature suggests that the opposite may occur. These two assertions are not necessarily contradictory provided that the nature of the employment relationship is taken into account (Frey 1993). Results from controlled laboratory experiments show that many principals engage in costly monitoring, and most agents react to the disciplining effect of monitoring by increasing effort. However, we also find some evidence that effort is crowded out when monitoring is above a certain threshold. We identify that both interpersonal principal/agent links and concerns for the distribution of output payoff are important for the emergence of this crowding-out effect. |
| Keywords: | principal-agent theory ; monitoring ; crowding-out ; motivation ; real effort experiment |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:papers:halshs-00276284_v1&r=lab |
| By: | Tor Eriksson (Department of economics - University of Aarhus); Anders Poulsen (School of economics - University of East Anglia); Marie-Claire Villeval (GATE - Groupe d'analyse et de théorie économique - CNRS : UMR5824 - Université Lumière - Lyon II - Ecole Normale Supérieure Lettres et Sciences Humaines) |
| Abstract: | This paper experimentally investigates the impact of different pay and relative performance information policies on employee effort. We explore three information policies: No feedback about relative performance, feedback given halfway through the production period, and continuously updated feedback. The pay schemes are a piece rate payment scheme and a winner-takes-all tournament. We find that, regardless of the pay scheme used, feedback does not improve performance. There are no significant peer effects in the piece-rate pay scheme. In contrast, in the tournament scheme we find some evidence of positive peer effects since the underdogs almost never quit the competition even when lagging significantly behind, and frontrunners do not slack off. Moreover, in both pay schemes information feedback reduces the quality of the low performers’ work. |
| Keywords: | evaluation ; feedback ; information ; laboratory experiments ; peer effects ; performance pay ; piece rate ; tournament |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:papers:halshs-00276396_v1&r=lab |
| By: | Christopher Azevedo (University of Central Missouri); John R. Crooker (University of Central Missouri) |
| Abstract: | The importance of accounting for a respondent’s travel time in recreation demand models is well established. In practice, most analysts use a fixed fraction of the respondent’s wage rate to value travel time. However, other approaches have been suggested in the literature. In this paper revealed and stated preference data on Iowa wetland usage is used to explore various specifications of travel time. It is shown that the choice of a particular specification has a direct impact on welfare estimates as well as the consistency between revealed and stated preference data. |
| Date: | 2008–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:umn:wpaper:0803&r=lab |
| By: | Ryo Arawatari (Graduate School of Economics, Osaka University); Tetsuo Ono (Graduate School of Economics, Osaka University) |
| Abstract: | This paper develops an overlapping-generations model including wage inequality within a generation and intra- and intergenerational resource reallocation via social security. Based on the concept of a stationary Markov perfect equilibrium, the paper focuses on the feedback mechanism between current individualsf decisions on saving and future voting on social security. The paper demonstrates the determination of social security via probabilistic voting and its consequence for consumption inequality within a generation. It is shown that when the elderly are politically powerful, (i) the economy attains an oscillatory path of inequality and social security, and (ii) aging may reduce consumption inequality. |
| Keywords: | Aging; Inequality; Social security; Political Economy; Stationary Markov Perfect Equilibrium |
| JEL: | D72 H55 J10 |
| Date: | 2008–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osk:wpaper:0819&r=lab |
| By: | Roger Best (University of Central Missouri) |
| Abstract: | We examine whether self-reported employee satisfaction is associated with higher firm valuation and productivity. Using a sample of firms from Fortune magazine’s list of "100 Best Companies to Work For", companies in which employees report high levels of satisfaction, we find that these firms have valuations that are significantly greater than both their respective industry medians and matched firms. The firms in our sample also exhibit greater levels of productivity and efficiency. Thus, successful efforts in increasing employee satisfaction appear to enhance overall firm productivity, which is subsequently rewarded by investors through higher equity values. |
| Keywords: | Employee satisfaction, firm value, firm productivity |
| JEL: | G30 G12 J41 |
| Date: | 2008–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:umn:wpaper:0806&r=lab |
| By: | Kitov, Ivan; Kitov, Oleg |
| Abstract: | The evolution of labor force participation rate is modeled using a lagged linear function of real economic growth, as expressed by GDP per capita. For the U.S., our model predicts at a two-year horizon with RMSFE of 0.28% for the period between 1965 and 2007. Larger part of the deviation between predicted and measured LFP is explained by artificial dislocations in measured time series induced by major revisions to the CPS methodology in 1979 and 1989. Similar models have been developed for Japan, the UK, France, Italy, Canada, and Sweden. |
| Keywords: | labor force participation; real GDP per capita; prediction |
| JEL: | D31 C20 E60 J20 |
| Date: | 2008–05–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:8677&r=lab |